Catholic church in Odessa becomes third Catholic church in Ukraine to get basilica status

The Church of the Holy Apostle Peter in Odessa on Havana Street 5 became the third Catholic church in Ukraine enjoying the status of basilica. The status of the basilica minor was assigned to the Roman Catholic Church by the Pope.

The Church of St. Peter the Apostle became the third church in Ukraine with a similar status, after the cathedral of the RCC in Lviv and the Basilica of the Exaltation of the All-Holy Cross in Chernivtsi. The liturgy and the procedure for the conferral of the new status will be held on March 16 by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Claudio Guegrotti.

The Church of the Holy Apostle Peter was built in 1893. A land plot for it was acquired by a descendant of emigrants from France, Alexander Vasalle. He also allocated and private funds for construction in the amount of RUR 20,000.

At first, the church was planned not as a parochial but a personal one. Basically, it was French and Italian sailors who came to pray there, but after the closure of most of the Odessa churches at the end of the 1940s, the Church of St. Peter remained the only active Catholic church not only in Odessa but also throughout southern Ukraine.

The church is an architectural monument of national significance; it has not been renovated or reconstructed since 1913.

In Catholicism, the title of basilica minor is conferred by the Pope or the Congregation for Divine Liturgy and the discipline of the sacraments. Basilica minor has a number of privileges, in comparison with ordinary churches. In it, under certain conditions, full indulgence can be given. The priests who serve in a basilica minor, have the right to a special outfit. In worship and processions tintinnabulum is used, and in the interior the archaic variant of the flag of the Church is traditionally installed in the form of a striped red-yellow conical canopy - "umbrella" (Latin umbraculum). It is also depicted on the count of arms of the basilica.